World history essay questions and answers

As an international group of scholars and teachers with a mission to “advance scholarship and teaching within a trans-national, trans-regional, and trans-cultural perspective,” the WHA condemns discriminatory actions and promotes evidence-based research, the integration of diverse histories, the free exchange of ideas, and education for the common good of the human community. We supported the statement issued by the American Historical Association on the January 2017 executive order, and will continue to work with the AHA and other scholarly societies on actions that support our mission. We encourage our members to provide historical context on current issues from a global perspective whenever the opportunity arises. All people are welcome to participate in events sponsored by the WHA, as we work to advance historical knowledge and prepare students and the public for an interdependent world.

During Chinas long revolutionary years the state both promoted and negated new roles for women. The most severe reaction against female activism was the Guomindangs counter revolution, called the White Terror (1927 - 1928), when female activists were accused of being instigators of societal chaos. During Chiang Kai-sheks relentless hunt for Communists, thousand of women were murdered and raped, including those who had simply bobbed their hair. The Communists, for their part, turned away from what they saw as bourgeois feminist reforms to attack the socioeconomic conditions they perceived as the source of all female oppressions. The idea was that once gender difference was erased, women would be freed to help spearhead the new society. Mao Zedong coined the phrase Women Hold Up Half the Sky, and set in motion a campaign to get women out of the home and into the work force. Selections from oral histories collected during the period illustrate his attempts to mobilize the lowest in society, the female peasant, so she could confront feudal fathers, husbands or landlords.